Death on Nantucket, Francine Mathews

"Spencer Murphy is a national treasure: a famous war correspondent who escaped captivity in Southeast Asia, his books and television appearances have made him a fortune for half a century. But Spencer, a venerable member of the Wharf Rats--Nantucket's exclusive club for fishermen, storytellers, and characters--is growing forgetful with age. When Spence starts to wander and his half-Asian daughter disappears without a word, Nantucket police detective Meredith Folger is called in to investigate. The timing couldn't be worse: It's the Fourth of July, Merry's planning her wedding to cranberry farmer Peter Mason, and her new police chief is gunning for her job. When a body is discovered at Step Above, the sprawling Murphy house near Steps Beach, Merry is inclined to call it a tragic accident ... until another member of the Murphy clan comes to a brutal end. As Merry grapples with a family of unreliable storytellers--some incapable of recalling the past, and others determined that it never be known--she suspects that the truth may be forever out of reach, trapped in the failing brain of a man whose whole life turns out to be a lie"--

"Spencer Murphy is a national treasure: a famous war correspondent who escaped captivity in Southeast Asia, his books and television appearances have made him a fortune for half a century. But Spencer, a venerable member of the Wharf Rats--Nantucket's exclusive club for fishermen, storytellers, and characters--is growing forgetful with age. When Spence starts to wander and his half-Asian daughter disappears without a word, Nantucket police detective Meredith Folger is called in to investigate. The timing couldn't be worse: It's the Fourth of July, Merry's planning her wedding to cranberry farmer Peter Mason, and her new police chief is gunning for her job. When a body is discovered at Step Above, the sprawling Murphy house near Steps Beach, Merry is inclined to call it a tragic accident ... until another member of the Murphy clan comes to a brutal end. As Merry grapples with a family of unreliable storytellers--some incapable of recalling the past, and others determined that it never be known--she suspects that the truth may be forever out of reach, trapped in the failing brain of a man whose whole life turns out to be a lie"--

Investigating the suspicious death of an aging journalist famed for his work as a correspondent during the Vietnam War, Nantucket police detective Meredith Folger struggles to uncover the truth when another member of the victim's family is killed and the remaining members demonstrate tendencies to spin wild tales or keep dangerous secrets